I was 36 years old. I was enjoying my life as a young mother, my daughter was 4 years old, my son was 1 year old and I was filled with happiness by my little family.
On November 20, 2016, my life took another turn. One month before my check-up mammogram, planned for a long time (I know that there is a sensitive area in the family but we have not done genetic screening, I do not yet know that I carry the BRCA2 genetic mutation), I feel a hard lump in my left breast. The verdict comes after horrible weeks of waiting and examinations: it is breast cancer with lymph node invasion.
16 chemos, a bilateral mastectomy, 25 radiotherapy sessions, 6 years of hormonal therapy and an oophorectomy later, a new earthquake: we noticed bone metastases. From now on the illness will never let me go.
I look back, and I wonder: why did my GP or gynecologist never seriously offer me screening? Why didn’t you introduce me to preventative mastectomy? Some doctors may say ‘It’s just a genetic mutation, you’re not sick’, I would say to you: ‘the day the cancer finds its way in, it’s too late.’
If I had been informed and made aware at the time, if I had done genetic screening, if I had had the courage to make the decision to have a preventative mastectomy, I would not be here today. I realize that I could have led a long, much more peaceful and serene life.
It was another time, with fewer means of communication, less knowledge and where surgery was not what it is today.
Today, I want to tell people who have cancer in their family to:
It can save your life!
BRCA network asbl/vzw
